The scale of Britain's industrial expansion during the 19th century was enormous and unprecedented. Fuelled by a rapid increase in international trade and a growing middle-class demand for consumer goods, Britain led the world in the development of rail networks and steamships.
Steam & speed: Industry, power & social change in 19th-century Britain
The emergence of Britain in the Victorian period as the world's most powerful trading nation was the direct result of the process of industrialisation that had transformed …
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Steam & speed: The power of steam at sea
At the heart of the complex structure of international trade developed by the Victorians and upon which their process of wealth generation depended, were efficient means of…
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Steam & speed: The power of steam on land
Steam locomotives were extensively used on colliery and quarry lines, particularly in the north east of England, and experimentally in other areas, during the first decades…
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Steam & speed: Other forms of Victorian transport & communication
The other type of railway developed in Britain and then used worldwide was the urban Underground. The first passenger carrying underground railway was opened in London betw…
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Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft
In this fascinating book, Sandy Black charts the development of knitting, from domestic handcraft to one of the most sophisticated computer controlled…
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Fri 24 May 2013 18:30
SPECIAL EVENT: Explore the aftermath of the transatlantic slave trade, the growth of material prosperity as a result of the Industrial Revolution, and mass migration of an indentured labour force from the Indian subcontinent to east and south Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
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